How about visiting Europe? People there are WAY thinner than in the States, and much healthier too.

Americans are fat because they eat too much and move about too little. Sure, there is a "diet craze" and eatign disorders and such, but with a simple lifestyle change that involves excersize and smart eating habits, one can have a normal weight, be healthy and live long.

Get over it, Americans are fat AND can do something about it too.

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I find it interesting that the sharpest rise in obesity has happened along with the sharpest decline in smoking in the U.S. There is a lag, but it takes a while to pile on the pounds. I can see the class action lawyers circling around like buzzards at the prospects.

You do have a choice--

Smoke and risk dying from Lung Cancer, C.O.P.D. or heart disease.

or

Eat like the average american and die with Type 2 Diabetes & CHF as your weight continues to soar.

Make your final selection, please.

All irony aside, the death rate for people is still 100%. You can spend your whole life doing all of the right stuff, none of the bad stuff and you are still going to die. You might even die at a shockingly young age.

The one thing that is sure about life is that your next breath or heartbeat is not a given. Live in the here and now. Just do it wisely.

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I have spent years screaming at the media and at governmental representatives about the lack of sidewalks and the reduction in public transportation as a significant contributing factor in the obesity of Americans. Yet, I have only heard one politician even suggest the link and that comment was made just this year by a candidate for governor in a midwest state.

Alas, what does Mike Huckabee talk about as obesity solutions as head of the National Governor's Association? It certainly is not about providing state money to communities for pubilc transportation and sidewalks. Public transportation is important because it gets people out of their homes, to the movies or to visit friends, instead of staying home eating.

Also in the mainstream press lately is the idiotic practice of having pre-paid food accounts for students so their parents can limit what they eat each day. Drive the students all over, then tell them they can only eat certain foods during a very limited time at school. (These prepaid accounts also resemble the concept of credit and/or debit cards, and the ease of swiping a card instead of counting cash and the ease of replenishing money, or expanding credit, whenever the funds run dry.)

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Being fat is not equivalent to being unfit. In fact, being underweight actually kills over 30,000 Americans a year.

I strongly question that 30,000 number. From where did it come? Are these people dying of starvation? Is this from anorexia? Since absolutely no backup is provided for this number, I can't take it very seriously.

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The obesity epidemic began when food ingredients began to change- particularly the switch from regular cane or beet sugar to high fructose corn syrup, and the changeover from animal fats to partially hydrogenated fats. The stated purpose was that these ingredients increased shelf life, but it was also a way to dispose of excess food. Scientists are learning that HFCS, along with the artificial sweetner aspertame, actually increases obesity, and the incidence of diabetes. And HFCS is in everything- it's very difficult to escape it unless you are very vigilant at reading labels. That goes for trans fats, too.

Portion sizes have jumped enormously since the 80s, too. When I go out to eat, I only eat 1/3 to 1/2 of what I am served and take the rest home- but most people clean their plates. A 'small' drink is the same size that a 'large' drink was 20-25 years ago. And a large drink ought to be served with a diving board, because they are so huge.

If you eat large amounts of crap food, you're going to end up with a crap body and crap diseases like high cholestrol and diabetes.

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It's undeniably true that being thin is as health-dangerous as being fat, but why is this issue always phrased in a manner of extremes? It's obesity or anorexia, overweight or underweight, as if there's no such thing as a happy medium.

I seriously think the use of language is a contributing factor. We need to change the way we talk about this issue, for example, instead of 'weight loss' or 'weight gain,' how about 'weight control?'

If we change the emphasis from being thin to having a sort of 'corridor' of healthy weight to stay within, (you've seen the height-weight charts in doctor's offices =) I think people might take a more relaxed attitude, but it needs a proper, common sense and popular solution instead of medical authorities just shaking their finger and complaining about the 'thin at all costs' lobby

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Go to Houston, TX if you want to see a fat epidemic. Just try going anywhere in that substantially large city without seeing not just overweight people, but obese men, women, and sadly enough children. Go to Detroit, almost the same thing. Go to Omaha, almost the same there too. Check out rural America, more fat phuckers than skinny ones. Between the smokers, the over-eaters, and under achievers, our country's health care costs are soaring. These people are drags on the economy. What is worse, is the fact that these people are trapped by their own weaknesses, and the fat cats in the corporations are raking in billions.

This article is BS, disguised as roses.

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here in chicago, in the heart of the midwest, it is obvious to me that indeed we do have a fat epidemic...all over the midwest highschool kids are plumper than ever.....and even simple tasks like climbing stairs becomes a 'chore.'

i also have some dealings with anorexics which is probably the most devastating disease i have ever seen....those who don't recover literally waste away and the selfesteem of the (mosty) women is lower than any drug addiction....

the article correctly points out how diets further exacerbate the problem.....the other significant problem is the fast food industry

i think the solution to the problem involves education ...where does that begin? if parents are parked at the tv and not cooking meals what signal does that send?

i also don't understand this not thin , but skinny obsession this culture has....first of all most of us aren't that skinny, and when skin lays on bone so close we end up looking like corpses....plus the postures presented in fashion mags will cause aches and pains in the joints as we age....people in third world countries walk tall and straight and have fewer neck, back, and knee problems....

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Being fat is not a health issue! Science has not found a link between being fat and being unhealthy. Eating unhealthy food and not exercising are unhealthy, but being fat, in and of itself, is not a health problem. This is one of the points of the article.

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I've never tried one before. I'm on a diet from chain restaurants, from transfats, from high fructose corn syrup. I'm on a diet from huge portion sizes. I'm on a diet from overprocessed 'quick cook' anything.

I guess it's not so much a diet as relearning a healthy way to eat. This article provides just as much scaremongering as the articles it criticizes. All the suggestions for healthy lifestyle change are found in the comments. Thumbs down.

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if you look at the corrected data from the CDC on the rate of mortality associated with obesity, is is a fraction of that associated with smoking. They came out with a study a few years ago that claimed obesity was very dangerous, but a year later they retracted those claims when it turned out the data they reported were in error (of course, the retraction was on page ten and the original was on page 1).

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This article the most flagrant example of denying the obvious that I've seen in a while.

Just walk outside and check out the poor slobs waddling down the street like animated bowling balls. It's pathetic.

Diabetes has reached epidemic levels, and doctors are correctly warning that this national tsunami of fat will doom an entire generation to ill health for decades.

And yet people like Courtney Martin blame it all on discrimination against heavy people. Amazing.

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The overwhelming evidence, not to mention common sense if you've evern gone from being overweight to the right weight, makes it clear that this is just an emotional load of nonsense.

While it may suck that you are going to be judged on your looks and your weight, take a look at the number of octogenarians and centenarians that are 50 + lbs. overweight.

Fat and fit? Not if you want to live a long, healthy life.

Alternet, we visit to get away from ideologues, not to see a different brand.

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A couple of years ago, during a checkup with my doctor, I idly mentioned that according to the chart in his examination room, I was classified as 'obese' by the AMA standards.

He laughed.

As far as he was concerned, while I was thirty pounds or so over the 'ideal' weight for my height, my blood pressure was at the low end of the normal scale, my blood sugar was just dandy, my cholesterol was excellent, I exercise regularly, and while my diet isn't perfect, it's still more than adequate.

Basically, in his view you pile all that on one side of the scale against the weight 'problem', and he didn't conside it a contest. Ignore the scales and focus on the rest was his advice.

If only everyone in the medical field had his common sense.

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I don't think the author sounds like an obseity apologist. But she is pointing out how obsessed American people are with weight as a bottom-line indicator of one's worth, which a lot of these comments clearly illustrate. There are many reasons why people get fat in this country. Inner pain, for one. Which is no reason to say mean things about those people. Actually, a person's tendency to say mean things sounds like they have some inner pain of their own. Let's all start to bring balance in our lives with the person in the mirror, eh?

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cost of the study / 49,000 women = ~$9 million per participant.

You probably meant $419 million

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"So why do highly educated, media-savvy Americans continue to buy into the idea that the thinner one is, the healthier and happier one is?"

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The author states 30,000 people die every year from being too thin - but doesn't back this up with any citation or concrete evidence - then the author states people with eating disorders as the people who are dying because they are too thin. Eating Disorders are a psychiatric condition and it takes years of starvation in order to die from anorexia or buliumia (like Terry Schiavo). No one who is 10 pounds or so under their "target" weight or BMI body fat index is going to die.

There is PLENTY of clinical evidence that being slightly underweight is a way to extend your life. The author says that overweight people who exercise and eat properly are healthy than thin people who don't exercise and eat well. Being obese highly increases the likelihood of dying from colon cancer, heart disease and diabetes. Excess belly fat creates more cortisol stress hormones - this changes one's entire body chemistry.

Then the authors solution is to get more public transit so people will walk more for exercise. If someone is morbidly obese (10% more than having a BMI index of 26%) then walking to the bus and light rail is not enough aerobic cardiovascular exercise to melt the fat. A woman who is 5'4" and weighs 200 pounds needs to do aerobic exercise at least 3 times a week for 45 minutes each time in order to lose weight - walking to the bus or subway isn't going to do it. Of course, walking more and getting off one's fanny and out of the car is good for you - but it won't help someone who is 50 pounds or more overweight get down to a healthy size figure.

This is a very sloppily written article - it assumes that all Americans don't get enough sleep, watch TV 10 hours a night, stuff their pie-hole with Pizza Hut and Coca Cola - whilst going to the supermarket and buying low fat, low carb processed food. The most extreme of examples is used to make gross generalizations about millions of people. Yes, Americans DO eat too much junk food and are sedentary. I agree with that - but trying to present his argument that it is healthier to be fat and exercise if you eat whole foods - than it is to be underweight is NONSENSE.

Can't alternet get better articles than this? Who is your fact checker? Lots of allegations were made in this article with nothing to back it up!

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Once again, the comments prove the point of the article. Fat people, regardless of their health problems, are clearly one of the only groups left in our society that are fair game for anyone to insult, anyone to degrade, anyone to make fun of, even supposedly "liberal/progressive" people who are "above" that.

The comments here are not the comments of people concerned about a potential health crisis. They are the comments of people who are excited to have a group to insult freely.

Comments like "fat phuckers," comparing people to bowling balls, someone even called overweight people "monsters." These are human beings. Just like the Muslims and other marginalized social groups people on this site are always sticking up for. And yes, overweight people ARE marginalized socially in many ways, ask any overweight person. They deserve the dignity accorded to any human being. Some of you are pathetic, on top of being hypocrites.

This issue puts the lie to many people's professed belief in human respect and dignity. As for the link between weight and health, weight is one of many, many factors which determine a person's overall health, many of which are far more important than weight but get far less attention because most people lose weight not to get healthy but to open the doors of society to them.

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Obesity is so prevalent in America that we have come to accept this as normal. "Supersize me!" is the rallying cry at fast food outlets. This fatness is a reflection of the national attitude - an orgy of consumer greed has become a way of life. Who cares about the consequences of this greed, More is Better, no matter what. We drive "fat" cars (SUVs), we live in "fat" homes (the bigger the better), we have a "fat" foreign policy (all the world is our political domain). While in Ohio recently, I was amazed to see so many fat people, but they also had a swagger to their step, like they were big rough tough Americans with their flags on their cars. Fat in the head too.

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If you're 50 to 100 pounds overweight, you're not healthy. For starters, your knees and back aren't built to carry that extra weight. Your heart is probably working overtime too. My husband developed diabetes nine years ago, and it's not like I didn't tell him he was at risk. Now, of course, he's lost the extra 50 pounds (down to 250!) but he still has high blood pressure. People like to say that this is a beauty/image issue but it sounds to me like they're making excuses for being unhealthy. I see enough fat unhealthy people to know that they can say all they want that 100 pounds overweight is beautiful, and maybe it is, but it's unhealthy too.

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I also love all the comments too of people saying, "I saw some fat people the other day and they were just walking around like they were normal people. Can you believe the nerve?!"

To me, I don't see the difference between that and "I saw two fags walking down the street holding hands like they were a normal couple. Can you believe the nerve?!"

To them, it is normal. It is their life. It is what they are. They aren't going to spend their lives hiding in shame and humiliation because you get your ideals of "normal" from Maxim and Cosmo, and I laugh at the idea that they should simply because it offends your eyes to see them.

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Last night I heard some bright bulb radio commentator (didn't catch the name) say something along the line that the repercussions of the "obesity epidemic" will turn out to be far worse than the result of 9/11. Now come on! A book published a few years ago called "The Obesity Myth" by Paul Campos, which failed to receive the widespread attention it deserved, pointed out the contribution of the billion-dollar weight loss industry to the whole obesity epidemic hysteria, as well as the underlying yet politically correct prejudice involved. When I was in Paris, I noticed that most people walked and rode bicycles everywhere. Also, when they took a coffee break they had coffee, not coffee and a Danish. Let's use common sense and balance, not only in diet and exercise but in discussing the issue as well. Sure, Americans need to exercise more and be far more mindful of what we put into our bodies, but all this name-calling and relegating of people to second-class status is bogus.

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After re-reading the column, it seems to me that Martin is mixing two dissimilar subjects. She really wants to talk about the bias against the overweight, but the approach she uses --saying the many health warnings are overstated -- is way off base.

There's simply too much illness attributable to obesity to pretend it isn't true.

She can make a good argument about the bias against fatties, but the Woman As Victim mantra is so tiresome. (We see plenty of that on the cable news networks every night.) Enough already.

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In addition to the numerous, extremely well-documented health benefits of maintaining a healthy weight in proportion to one’s height and frame, there is another well-documented reality for those of us working in Corporate America: overweight/obese people receive lower salaries with fewer raises, fewer promotional opportunities, and less overall recognition. Is that right? Of course not. Is it reality? Of course it is.

Yes, it is very easy to be overweight in our society; however, given all the clear-cut facts regarding nutrition as it relates to simple biology (calories expended always need to balance calories ingested), like it or not, at the end of the day it comes down to one’s personal choice. (However, I want to make it clear that I do not believe – in any way – that struggling with being overweight/obese is any kind of “personal moral failure”.) While those choices may be influenced and motivated by numerous factors (including one’s psyche), the fact remains that at any time, we have an opportunity to make a choice for healthier living that will only serve to enhance our life in so many ways.

When the harsh reality of being 25 pounds overweight (and clearly on my way to even more) slapped me in the face, I realized it was my choice: no one was forcing me to drive-thru at the fast-food restaurants; no one was forcing me to eat an entire pint of Haagen-Dazs Chocolate Chocolate Chip; no one was forcing me to eat the entire, ridiculously large plate of food the casual dining restaurants put in front of me. When I looked in the mirror naked and didn’t like what I saw, I decided the time had come for me to simply make different choices regarding eating and physical activity, in addition to addressing whatever issues in my psyche may be have been influencing my eating patterns.

While I understand and sympathize with the author of the article and many of the comments posted here, I prefer to deal with reality, and the reality is that – for the vast majority of the population – being overweight/obese carries numerous, well-documented health risks, and – at this point in time – is simply not acceptable in our society.

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Obesity is caused by eating foods with a lot of artificial flavorings and chemicals. A lot of these foods are advertised as "less fattening."

People eat these foods, and then get cravings because the foods are not real. It doesn't fill them up. So they eat more and more of these foods, and it takes longer for them to stop being hungry. By then, they have gained some weight. This is most likely because the foods are probably more fattening than advertised.

I have proof of this: a year and a half ago I went to Italy, and I ate lots of pasta. I ended up being thinner than I would have been if I ate the same amount of pasta in the States! One of the people I traveled with had a similar experience, and he commented to an Italian friend of his about this. This friend said: "You Americans don't understand. Our foods don't have the artificial chemicals and flavoring and GMOs yours do."

Incidentally, I once read that Italy banned McDonalds' from being built in one or more of its cities, though I forget the cities' names.

I also think this situation in the United States is exacerbated by too unrealistic standards of thinness. People see pictures of fashion models, and try desperately to be as thin as the models are; not realizing that the models in the photos are often airbrushed to look more "ideal." So these people go on silly faddish diets, consume "diet" pharmaceuticals and "weight-loss" foods that are supposed to be chemically and/or genetically altered so they're less fattening, and then get depressed when they realize these things don't really work. By then, they have cravings because these "diet foods" are also not real food.

I believe that too much advertising and people being brainwashed by it is one reason why many Americans seem to be obsessed with weight. But obesity is also beginning to be a problem in other countries, due to consumption of McDonalds' and other fast foods.

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The point of the article was not that fat = healthy. It was that carrying a little extra weight does not automatically equal unhealthy, and that being thin does not automatically equal being healthy. It is possible to be too thin. It is possible to be thin and still be too fat, in terms of fat/muscle ratio. It is possible to be thin and still be unhealthy, in terms of lifestyle--some people can stuff their faces with junk food and not gain weight, but being thin doesn't make them healthy.

Carrying around 50 extra pounds is unhealthy and hard on your body. No one is disputing that. The issue is that weight is a continuum; just because you're not skinny doesn't mean you're fat. It's not all or nothing--as long as you eat right and exercise, you can be healthy without being super-thin. Yes, it is possible.

Also, unhealthy though it may be, obesity should not make people "fair game". I like the comment above that mentioned that saying that fat people have some nerve walking around like "normal" people is like saying that gay couples have some nerve walking around holding hands or displaying any kind of affection like "normal" people. We liberal, progressive people here at AlterNet would never say something like the latter, would we? So why is it so acceptable to throw around the former?

I'm not crazy about everything in this article, but the point--that America has an obsession with weight and an extremely skiewed viewpoint concerning it--is valid.

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Everyone thinks that this article says something different b/c it was so poorly written. It has about 5 different theses. Alternet needs to do better.

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I find this article to be a roller coaster ride itself! Americans are fat. Period. I am a 35 year old woman who is 5'10, 125 lbs. and this is my normal genetic makeup. Yes, I know I'm lucky however I eat three meals a day and I stop when I'm full. I don't eat junk food or fast food and I don't drink soda. But I LOVE food and eat what I want. When I was growing up everyone was active and we all actually sat down at the dinner table every night. So you can blame whomever you'd like but the responsibility resides soley on the individual and if there are children involved than blame the parents. According to you I'm in danger of health issues! You must be overweight yourself therefore justifying the manic sway of your article. And as far as eating disorders are concerned, nothing has changed for years. It's not a new thing. So yes, being overweight is extremely unhealthy. Being fit and not obsessive is how we should live. But until we eliminate instant gratification food and our fast paced lifestyles then obesity will continue to be an epidemic.

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Just that.

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I work in a theme park, so I see some of the fattest people in the world, and the vast majority of them are American, though other cultures are catching up by adopting our lifestyle.

There is a monumental difference between a little extra padding and obese. Obesity is dangerous for all the reasons exclamed anywhere you look. The problem with "extra padding" is that it's hard to tell with some people whether they are "big-boned" or getting a little pudgy.

Despite whether one is obese or simply overweight, take the excessive amounts of animal products and sugars out of people's diets, add a reasonable amount of exercise, and watch that weight come down for the majority of people.

Even "skinny" people can lose some "extra padding."

I lost a waist-size after adopting a plant-based diet, and I was already a 33 waist to begin with. I don't exercise a crazy amount, and I'm quite irregular about it due to my strange work schedule, but my diet has been relieved of animal products and soft drinks, as well as most sugar and corn-syrup-based snacks (I still eat the occasional dark chocolate, candied nuts, soy ice cream, vegan cookies, and so on, but no completely empty sugar candies).

Now, I still enjoy my eating habits, but I'm leaner in my mid-30s than I was in my mid-20s. Lower cholesterol, too. The health impact of both of these is tremendous, especially as I approach my 40s. Anyway, I'm rambling.

Read T. Colin Campbell's "The China Study" if you need any more evidence that we're obese, and that the Standard American Diet is killing us.

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What if, when you went through the drive through you could only get food that was good for you? Impossible you say? Why is that? Surely there must be a direct link between junk food consumption increases and the rise of obesity. But it tastes sooo good. Well too bad.
What if all the junk food was taken away and you had to eat the food mom put on your plate. No, that must have been another world. Does anyone even remember it? Remember the world before video games, cable tv, junk food? People are buying and eating crap because that's what is there.
The consequences are there for all to see.

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I see the problem as two-fold:
1. America, on the average, is getting too fat from too little exercise and time spent outdoors and from eating too much junk food in too big servings. Much of our food is nutrient deficent.
A little extra padding may not hurt too much, but obesity is very unhealthy.
Yo-yo dieting and all kinds of fad diets make the problem worse.
While I would never ridicule or dsicriminate against an obese person, I do find extreme obesity unattractive. I also find anoerexic thinness and 'roid built muscle freaks unattractive!
Normal or a little more or a little less is what I find attractive.
2. While being fit is good and maintaining a normal weight is good, Americans, especially women, see people of average or normal weight for their height and age (weight increases as we age) as too fat. We have an unhealthy image of normal women and think the stick thin models are healthy images. They are not. Since when is being as thin as a famine victim healthy? VERY FEW WOMEN WILL EVER BE A SIZE TWO OR FOUR AND LOOK GOOD DOING SO! If you are five ten and a size two, you are way too thin.
The answer would be to have a realistic body image and strive to maintain a healthy diet and get reasonable exericse and stress relief. Stress ups cortisol which adds belly fat.

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I have concluded that the main reason obesity exists is due to myopic vision. One does not need a degree in biology or physics to determne the connection between input and output: i.e. the size of the mouth vs the size of the anus and the process in-between the two called digestion. By the simple deduction of allowing the body to excrete before inputting more, I have never had a weight 'problem'. Just one meal a day, home-cooked. Sometimes, no meal for 2 days if I feel 'full'.
a) Advertising: Packaging junk as food: they're starving to death. The poor body is being stuffed with chemical packaging whilst it craves nutrition. So, people pig out unconsciously - zonked out in front of the TV or computer, which affects metabolism. The cycle continues because crap is addictive and they are not consciously eating but literally 'stuffing their faces'.Look at the proportion of fresh vegetables to packaged rubbish like biscuits in supermarkets?
b) Advertising: Convenience: A UK survey recently concluded that the majority of young career people considered a package meal bunged in the microwave, or opening a can of something and putting it in a saucepan as 'home cooking'. It's a mystery to me why cookery books sell so well and celebrity chefs are fawned over. I think they read a recipe which either stimulates them to go to a restaurant or pick up something similar pre-packaged, full of nasties, at the supermarket.
c) Advertising: Low Self Esteem: Exposed to ever-lithe, unnatainable perfection via tv, magazines etc. girls/women in particular, but increasingly boys/men desire to look well proportioned and attractive but subconsciously 'reject' this is possible for them personally, instead, living a fantasy live through two-dimensional projected images 'living a life' saaaad.
This is depressing when the show's over and they turn to their 'comfort' food for solace. This is turn, also makes them feel guilty. People of all sizes and ages will say things 'oh, I shouldn't really' like naughty children when tucking into a big creamy pastry. The message to the subconscious is: This is bad for me and will make me fat. The subsconsious obliges in instructing the body accordingly with all-too-obvious results. Guilt and low self-esteem are major killers.
Advertising: Diets: diet foods, sodas the whole big money-spinning hype that it is. Counter-productive.
So-called food manufacturers ought to be sued for producing mass starvation and disease. There is so little nutritional value in even euphemistically-called 'fresh' vegetables and fruit due to soil depletion, chemicals, intensive farming, storage, transport, and preserved shelf-life that we are all suffering this malaise to a greater degree or other. Oh, and please don't ever eat soya again - it's lethal to nutritional absorption - disgusting pooh.
Grow your own veg if Homeland Security will allow this and if you can find non-GM seeds not yet confiscated by the most evil company on the planet - Monsanto.
My advice is that it's never too late to take up smoking (moderately - rolling tobacco) and learn the difference between the respective orifi and their functions - or am I talking out of my posterier? One day, I have a vision of making my very own fitness video called How to Look Great at 48 featuring yours truly with fag in one hand, pint of Bitter in the other expounding on the virtues of positive affirmation, self-acceptance and the most important junk to drop - the media hype. Enjoy everything you put in your mouth, or leave it out. What's that saying? "Life is not about arriving to your coffin in a perfect body, unblemished. Rather it is sliding sideways, glass of wine in hand, battered, exhausted and thoroughly used up, shouting 'Whoa! what a ride"!

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I eat two meals a day. I make my own whole wheat sourdough bread using nothing but flour and water. I eat primarily organic foods. I can't remember the last time I had a cheeseburger from a fast food place, nor when I had a can of pop, save for the one I shared with my sister the other night (I don't even know what to do with one of those tubs o' cola). I live in the city center so that I can walk everywhere and have owned a car for about 7 months combined in my entire life (I'm 33). My apartment is obsessively tidy. I was accepted to graduate programs at Ivy League schools.

And guess what? I'm almost 300 pounds. But my blood sugar is far from that of a diabetic.

I started dieting when I was 5 years old and now my metabolism is completely fucked up, along with other aspects of my health.

People come in all shapes, colors, and sexual orientations. You'd think liberals -- probably quite a few of you who would consider yourselves feminists -- would know that. But the level of hatred I've seen in these comments is staggering.

There is definitely a problem with the way Americans eat and the amount of exercise they get. But the human body is far more complex than simply explaining obesity as a problem of behavior. And blaming just anyone who happens to be fat won't change that one bit.

To those of you who would call me a "fat slob," I say, be glad you got lucky with the right genes for this particular historical context, assholes.

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Hmmmm....419 billion....Well, that would be about 16 % of the entire annual federal budget. Doubtful! Well, actually, no it's not doubtful - it's unbelieveable. 30,000 dead from being underweight. Perhaps, but I'm confidant that that figure would have to include every person who died from a eating disorder and every child who has died from malnutrition. The implication that being underweight is tantamount to a death sentence is just too bizarre. I think the author may be looking for an "out" concerning overweight Americans. Sorry, this article just doesn't accomplish that. If you're overweight - don't use this flimsy article as an excuse to remain that way.

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I find this article to be outstanding. The truth is that almost all the scare studies are sponsored by the diet/pharmaceutical companies. Sadly, these products harm the health of fat people, then that damage is used to justify that fat is unhealthy in the first place. (Go look in the medical journals and find studies that controls for risky weight loss practices.) What is even sadder is that the same critical minds that challenge the media when it comes to global warming, junk food, the war, and a whole host of other issues give BigPharma carte blance when it comes to obesity. Prejudices are a type of "functional" disfunction. The obsession with weight stops women from getting too powerful. It also keeps America so guilt ridden and tied to our scales we don't have the mental energy to get political. I bet there are many on this forum who would agree with the whole notion of consumer culture making us complacent, we think all our problems are personal and the solution is to buy something. "Thinderella" fantasies are the ultimate co-opting of the political by the personal; most women really believe that weight loss will produce a magical transformation that will fix their problems. Meanwhile, our rights are being eroded daily and the planet is in code red! We can't afford for weight to be our number one issue any longer!

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To all the people posting that are calling overweight people fatties, disgusting, pathetic, etc.:

SHAME ON YOU.

You would never walk up a openly gay person and call them a fag to their face. You'd never call a mentally ill person a fucking wacko. But yet, you pour out all this venom and hatred onto people who either eat too much, don't exercise enough, or have health issues that lead to obesity. Where in hell do you get off doing that???!!! Don't you DARE claim that you have the moral and superior high road until you've had someone spit in your food and say "I bet she'll still eat it!", because that's what you're doing, except it's on a computer. My best friend was overwieght (+100lbs) for years. She would go to the gym to try to exercise and was repeatedly told by skinny instructors that she would break the equipment if she got on it. She's try to go for walks along the road and have trash thrown at her from people screming obscenities as they drove by. I saw her struggle day after day to build some self-esteem because in order to lose weight, you need to think that you are worthy of being healthy, of being alive. Her counselor called it a slow suicide.
So to all of you people: FUCK YOU. YOU disgust me.

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The real problem is that thin people have never had a weight problem. They figure that if they can eat basically anything they want and stay thin, then most fat people must be really gorging. This just isn't the way it works.

The real problem is that different people have different metabolisms and genetics, and that many fat people eat much less than most thin people. We are nature's guarantee against famine, you blockheads. In fact many of us came from substistance farming and famine backgrounds within the last few generations.

The real problem is that we eat synthetic food, meat and dairy products filled with growth hormones to increase weight gain, and fruit and vegetables genetically selected for bigness not nutritional value. Our culture has substituted soda pop (sugar and caffeine) for good water; empty junk food calories for real bread; high fructose, fat and "vitamin enrichment" for real grains, fruits and vegetables grown on healthy organic soil - not that de-natured, sterile growing medium pumped with chemical fertilizers (Meth for plants) that most farms call soil today.

The real problem is that we have allowed ourselves to be brainwashed by corporations that "thin" is the only beautiful (because it is so unattainable by most people after the age of 30); that processed "food products" are nutritionally equal to good food; that weight is not a natural population variable, but a "choice" (oh, yeah, I really LOVE being fat); and that GMO, and chemical and hormone impregnated food will not have any negative effects on [most of] the people who eat it.

Yeah, most Americans eat more than they need to, and many others make poor food choices, but you'll notice it only becomes a social crime when the people doing it are overweight. Many of us are just victims of the system, chasing that shining ideal of "thin", by spending a lifetime on unending, multiple diets that do nothing except TEACH OUR BODIES TO STARVE and conserve calories, until we can live on practically nothing and are still fat.
Dieting isn't an answer - it's part of the problem, as the people who make money on diet "aids" and books well know.

So if you aren't fat and are over 30, stop judging others whose lives you know nothing about, thank GOD for your lucky metabolism - and hope you don't have to live through a famine anytime soon.

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obviously the author is justifying their own weight problem...

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I keep reading the arguments that there is or is not an obesity epidemic. Comments by both sides are wrong. It is a very complex issue and everyone wants to make it simple. If you don't believe that there is an epidemic of obesity and metabolic disease, you are simply blind. Children are developing type 2 diabetes in stunning numbers (along with fatty liver, hypertension, and other metabolic syndromes). Adults are not only fatter, but many are "superobese" and althought the "superobese" have always been with us, there are many more of them and they are becoming diabetic and getting sick faster. If you want to start looking for confirmation, just look at hospital statistics for admissions and the number of procedures being done under the banner "bariatric surgery." If you want to find the culprit, look at the food industry and the crap that they have been putting in all of our diets. If you want to get more thourough and scientific, look at the medical literature under the subject lines fructose, gluten, and cow's milk. We are turning into what we eat and what we are eating (and I don't believe it is strictly by demand and choice) is fattening metabolically poisonous crap. These foods are addictive and over the long run (over years) cause cumulative damage to our metabolism. I don't think the food industry cares about our health as much as they care about their shareholders and the bottom line.

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I agree with your theory that the food industry feeds us crap, including growth hormones, but it really frustrates me no one mentions dieting. Dieting also makes us fatter, when we diet our bodies interpret this as famine and get better at storing fat. That is one of the reasons there are more "superobese" people here than in Europe. Many European countries are more accepting of natural variations in shapes and sizes and naturally plump people are not under so much pressure and therefore don't yo-yo themselves into extreme obesity. (BTW yo-yoing itself has been associated with increased rate of heart disease and diabetes.) Studies are also starting to find that if mom goes on reducing diets even before she is pregnant, babies are more likely to develop heart disease, diabetes, and crave high fat foods later in life. We are so fatphobic we forget our ability to store fat is one of the reasons we survived so well in past times. If we completely try to eliminate it, Mother Nature will just strike back. Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers are just as responsible for the obesity epidemic as McDonalds and Hersheys yet we refuse to see this. I do agree with you that it is a very very complicated issue though.

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Whaddya say, Alternet patrons??

Folks, ever feel like all the opining becomes another weapon of mass distraction?? Democratic forum, yes, and "God Bless America" (someone has to), but more wisdom, sober reflection, respect, research,... any more re's?!

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Thank you so much for this article. More Americans need to be aware of these issues. It seems to me, fat-predjudice is the last socially acceptable form of discrimination in our culture, and it is insidious. As a large woman myself, six feet tall and 180 pounds, I have been harassed by doctors telling me to lose weight despite the healthy state of my body and the fact that I am active and nutrition conscious. The medical profession seems the most brainwashed of all, with little proof to back up their assumptions regarding weight and healthiness. Even the most aware people equate the slightest chubbiness, Im not even talking about obesity here, with character weaknesses, laziness, etc. It can be hard to live with these assumptions and people need to know they are no different than racism or other forms of discrimination.

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While millions of parasitic bourgeois Americans dither and worry over their weight and how it affects their self-image--and, oh my God, EVEN MORE IMPORTANT, how a bunch of other mindless cretininous parasites are going to judge their looks, 99 percent of the people in the world have to scrounge whatever they can to keep from starving to death every day. Why do they have to scrounge? Because the vast majority of the world's resources are squandered in countries like America on things like ridiculous "dieting" fads, rather than on trying to insure that the rest of the world has sufficient food, clothing, shelter, etc. And Americans have to WONDER why people in the rest of the world want to see this country destroyed? What would happen if the bourgeois miscreants in this country stopped obssessing over their waistlines for a few minutes and started thinking about what kind of world we really live in and how they might do something to make it better?

Oh, right, I forgot. Since the diet/pharmaceutical/medical/"beauty" industry would lose money, we're not permitted to think about such things, are we? No, just keep watching the television and consuming fear. I'm sure Big Brother puts our "health" first, doesn't he?

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Appears to be a mostly a middle class group of posters here, not under economic stress to make ends meet. An important part of the picture is that cheap high glycemic carbos are the most cost effective way to get fed in this country. An interesting statistic is that over the past 30 years the price of fresh fruits and vegetables has risen at over 50% higher than the CPI while at the same time sugar has risen at 30% less than the CPI.

I'm not making excuses for the ignorance that contributes to obesity but the reason you see so many more poor fat people these days is tied to macroeconomic trends among other things.

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Most people don't care if YOU smoke, YOU eat crappy mcfood, YOU prefer a sedentary life of tv and fantasy football. Really, why the hell would anyone care what anyone else does? I think we are beyond passing purtian morality! What we do care about is the fact that people like YOU are bankrupting our healthcare system. I don't care if we haven't proven that obesity causes expensive medical care via diabetes, cancer, heart disease, stroke beyond a doubt. There is enough of an association, consistent association, between these chronic diseases and obesity to warrant public policies that reduce the incidence and prevelance of obesity. The alternatiave is that no one will be able to afford any health care at all.

We can't afford YOU. So, since you have such a cavil attitude towards health, "live and let die" approach, then please, do us all a favor and cut up your health insurance card so the rest of us don't have to PAY for your lifestyle. No one ever does cut up their insurance card...so much for "we are all going to die some day anyway". Interesting.

By the way, if you want an informed view, try reading "ashes to ashes", "food politics", "hope or hype". YOUR decisions concerning what you eat, what you do with your body are not your own. You are heavily influenced by advertising.

For my fellow citizens who are "low-income", its hard to target blame. They can't go out and get physical exercise because their neighborhoods aren't safe, they can't eat healthy, wholesome meals because they don't have enough money and time to prepare them, tv makes a good babysitter when parents have to work 2 and 3 jobs to make ends meet, and schools don't provide healthy meals or opportunities to "stretch your legs." These guys at least have an excuse, but middle America, you have no excuse.

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If we wait for all the naysayers to stop naysaying, obesity will cost the country its healthcare system. We don't have to wait to prove causality beyond a reasonable doubt. Come on. We didn't wait to prove causality before implementing warnings on cigarette packs! And then, like today, naysayers objected to warnings saying that causality wasn't there, just assocaition/correlation. Bologne! See my post below. I don't really care what people do with their bodies/to their bodies. And I agree that the diet industry is profiting tremendously off of our fear of fat. However, none of this diminishes the fact that our waistlines vis a vi poor diets and lack of physical activity are bankrupting our healthcare system.

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